What does it mean to suffer? What enables some people to emerge from tragedy while others are spiritually crushed by it? And why do so many Americans think of suffering as something that should happen to other people—who somehow deserve it? Combining reportage, personal narrative, and moral philosophy, Peter Trachtenberg offers this provocative and sweeping look at one of the biggest paradoxes of the human condition, and the surprising strength and resilience of those who are forced to confront it. He tells the stories of grassroots genocide tribunals in Rwanda and tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka, an innocent man on death row and a family bereaved on 9/11. He also examines texts from the Book of Job to the Bodhicharyavatara and the writings of Simone Weil.

"Writing movingly about victims and survivors of natural disasters, war, genocide, domestic violence, addiction, illness, suicide and injustice, Trachtenberg deftly intermingles their stories with observations from religion, philosophy and literature.... The Book of Calamities, like Andrew Solomon's The Noonday Demon, succeeds because it asks the right questions, calls on the experience of articulate witnesses and—through skillful narrative and trenchant observation—beguiles the reader into facing heartbreaking reality."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)